WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th April, 2020) US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper will thoroughly review an inquiry into the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on the US Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and decide next steps to take, Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.
"This afternoon, Secretary Esper received a verbal update from the acting Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations on the Navy's preliminary inquiry into the COVID-19 outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt," Hoffman said on Friday. "After the Secretary receives a written copy of the completed inquiry, he intends to thoroughly review the report and will meet again with Navy leadership to discuss next steps."
The US Navy has reported that 840 sailors assigned to the ship have tested positive for COVID-19, including one death due to the disease.
The outbreak was first made public when an email written by the ship's captain Brett Crozier was leaked to the media. The email warned of an outbreak among the crew and said there was an urgent need to quarantine affected sailors.
On April 9, former Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly announced that he removed Crozier from his post, saying the captain improperly sent the email about his concerns, using channels that were not secure to convey confidential information.
Modly soon thereafter resigned when he came under fire for removing the captain and calling him "stupid" for sounding the alarm about the COVID-19 outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier.
